Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan.
DERBY — Members of the Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen voted 7 – 1 to institute a hiring freeze for city government on May 11, but the mayor’s office and the Derby corporation counsel are raising questions about whether the city’s legislative body has the power to take such measures.
The Alders voted for the hiring freeze at a public meeting. The freeze did not include the police department. Alderman Charles Sampson voted against the hiring freeze.
The motion to institute a hiring freeze came from Alderman Ron Sill, a Democrat who represents Derby’s Second Ward.
Sampson asked Sill why the action was needed.
“There’s many reasons, some financial and some with the (job) application process not being followed that I’d rather not bring up right now,” Sill said.
Corporation Counsel John Marini questioned whether the Alders were exceeding their authority.
“I don’t quite understand how the board has the authority for a hiring freeze,” Marini said at the meeting.
Sill said the board has twice before enacted a hiring freeze, but didn’t provide specifics.
Mayor Rich Dziekan asked for a legal opinion on the matter, according to Marini.
“I am currently looking into whether the board’s vote calling for a hiring freeze is valid,” Marini said on May 17. “There is no section in the charter that gives the board authority over hiring of officials or employees, yet they can set the salaries.”
However, no written opinion had been offered by the corporation counsel’s office as of May 25.
And, since the board took the vote, the city hired a new employee for the long under-staffed tax office, according to Walt Mayhew, Mayor Dziekan’s chief of staff.
“It is my understanding that the offer of employment was extended prior to the Aldermen’s action,” Mayhew said in an email to The Valley Indy.
Mayhew also said the administration interpreted the vote as applying only “to new hires, not existing vacancies within the various departments throughout the city.”
Sill’s motion, as recorded on audio, was as follows:
“I would like this board to vote on a hiring freeze. This hiring freeze will take effect immediately after it’s voted upon and shall not affect the Derby Police Department or the Derby Fire Department. Therefore I make a motion that we immediately have a hiring freeze in the City of Derby.“
The Valley Indy sent Alderman Sill an email seeking comment on Mayhew’s remarks but did not hear back.
Mayor Dziekan said the city needs to hire an assistant director at the Derby Senior Center, and he’s actively looking to fill the position, regardless of the hiring freeze.
“I’m waiting for corporation counsel to give me a definitive answer, but in the meantime, we need to hire an assistant director for the senior center, and we need somebody in there as soon as possible,” Dziekan said.
Sampson said the city needs to fill some key positions, including a finance director and human resources director.
“The city is far understaffed with the positions that it needs,” Sampson said. “The city has a history of not doing the right thing as far as it goes with putting people in the positions that are sorely needed.”
Mayhew accused the BOA/BOAA of working against the mayor since the start of his third term.
“They are more interested in engaging in political maneuvering than working cooperatively with the mayor to achieve progress and move the city forward, which is happening in spite of the mayor’s opponents best attempts to delay, disrupt or derail his initiatives,” Mayhew said.
